Federal territory? You mean to tell me that the Federal government owns all the land? All our local & state governments are now mere entities of the Federal government?
Well, the sources they cited in the Declaration of Independence might illuminate us. The law of nature and nature’s God. The traditional rights of Englishmen. The prerogatives of colonial self-administration. There are also indications that they weren’t afforded the usual protections of international law. Probably others.
Oh my, “indications & probability” is what you finally rely on? You really are on a stretch there now aren't you? You mean to tell me that after the Declaration the founders still deemed themselves Englishmen? Please give a cite for that as well as the indications you speak of that they weren't afforded the usual protections of international law since foreign nations came to the aid of the US both militarily & monetarily under the rights afforded to the US according to the Law of Nations.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
NOPE! No Englishmen there & no indications or probability either, but lots of Nature, Nature's God as well as the founder's Creator. "Liberty": the right to remove themselves & their families from one society and attach to another in their pursuit of their's & their family's happiness. It's called Expatriation & it is the sister Act to the 14th Amendment. It states that the US does NOT & NEVER has recognized dual allegiance.
And in case you have trouble understanding the Law of Nature & Nature's God, here's a lesson from a most notable Englishman that was published in 1708 & a common book in American households as well as libraries in America prior to the revolution.
